The FBI today announced child-pornography charges against four men from Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, accusing them of operating a ring that distributed pornographic images and videos and referred to themselves by the name "Boy Lovers."
Charged are Jose Carlos Garcia, 22, of Schererville, Ind.; Neal Maschke, 40, of West Chicago; Corey Stinefast, 27, of Kenosha, Wis.; and Mark McGill, 24, of Crest Hill.
According to the complaints, the FBI began investigating the men in June after arresting one in their group. That man admitted to "possession, receipt, distribution and manufacture of child pornography," the complaint said. The man "also stated he had contacts with many other child pornography enthusiasts, some of whom were molesting children."
The man became a cooperating witness and may still face federal child-exploitation charges himself, according to the complaints.
In several recorded conversations -- in person, via phone and Internet chat -- the witness and Garcia allegedly discussed child pornography, and he and Garcia arranged to meet to exchange and view images and videos together.
In one phone exchange on July 11, Garcia allegedly told the cooperating witness that he had traveled to St. Louis and met with a man whom he filmed engaging in sexual activity with a young boy, the complaint against Garcia states.
On Aug. 25, the witness, Garcia and Stinefast allegedly went to a local amusement park, the complaint states. During the trip, Stinefast allegedly gave Garcia a computer disk containing child pornography that the witness later turned over to federal investigators.
The witness and undercover FBI investigators met with Garcia and Maschke in a hotel room in Skokie on Saturday night to exchange pornographic computer images and videos. Those two defendants were arrested at that time and were found to have child pornography with them, according to the FBI. Stinefast was arrested in Kenosha the same night.
McGill was taken into custody this morning. Officials say he gave a USB drive to the witness on Aug. 29 that contained over 3,500 images and 60 videos of child pornography.
If convicted of the charges against them, Garcia, Stinefast and McGill face between five and 20 years in federal prison, while Maschke faces up to 10 years in prison.
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